49ers vote for postseason OT change

Team president Jed York said yesterday he did not know which way the 49ers would vote on the proposed overtime rules change for playoff games. The 49ers voted yes today at the annual NFL owners meeting in Orlando, Fla. (And 49ers fans are hoping this rule actually has a chance to impact the team in the near future.)

The measure passed by a 28-4 vote. Now, the team that receives the opening kickoff of overtime (in the postseason) will only win immediately if it scores a touchdown. Otherwise, the kicking team will get a chance to match the score to keep the game going or win outright.

Buffalo, Baltimore, Minnesota and Cincinnati were the only teams to vote against the rules change.

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The league doled out $3.4 million in additional performance-based pay (PBP) to players on the 49ers.

According to the league, PBP is a supplemental form of player compensation based on a comparison of playing time to salary.The fund is only paid in league years in which a salary cap exists, the league said. Because 2009 was the last year under a salary cap system, PBP will not continue in 2010, the final year of the current collective bargaining agreement.

Under the Performance-Based Pay system, players become eligible to receive a bonus distribution in any regular season in which they play at least one official down. The system awards players for playing time based on their salary.

The 49ers had two players, Josh Morgan and Dashon Goldson, do quite well. Morgan was fifth in the league in performance-based pay with $325,421 in additional income, while Goldson was 11th at $303,763.

Here are the dollar amounts earned by some of the other notable 49ers players in 2009:

Dre’ Bly $219,133

Chilo Rachal $173,853

Scott McKillop $173,479

Delanie Walker $120,961

Ahmad Brooks $120,629

Ray McDonald $120,528

David Baas $118,740

Glen Coffee $112,734

Matt Wilhelm $96,542

Patrick Willis $65,740

Curtis Taylor $53,000

Michael Crabtree $38,663

Takeo Spikes $35,378

Shaun Hill $23,498

Frank Gore $17,937

Alex Smith $17,724

Diyral Briggs $18,018

Rookie Ricky Jean-Francois, who saw limited action in just three games, received $2,200.

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Earlier today, he held a live chat with 1,092 readers. Unfortunately, I was able to answer only a fraction of the 525 questions. Read the chat transcript here.